AbstractObjective: To determine whether there is an independent association between infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae and ischaemic heart disease.Design: Prospective study using a nested case-control design.Setting: Medical centre in London run by BUPA, a private medical organisation.Participants: 21 520 professional men aged 35-64 who attended for a medical examination in London between 1975 and 1982.Main outcome measure: Death from ischaemic heart disease.Results: The distributions of concentrations of IgG and IgA antibodies to C pneumoniae were similar in the 647 men who subsequently died of ischaemic heart disease and in 1294 age matched controls who did not. There was no material association with heart disease irrespective of the cut-off point chosen to define seropositivity. At a cut-off point that defines 15% of controls as positive, for example, the odds ratios were 1.26 (95% confidence interval 0.95 to 1.68) for IgG and 1.09 (0.82 to 1.43) for IgA.Conclusions: No material association was found between infection with C pneumoniae and ischaemic heart disease. The size and prospective design of the study and the socioeconomic homogeneity of the cohort minimise both random and systematic error.

AbstractObjective: To examine the association between coronary heart disease and serum markers of chronic Chlamydia pneumoniae infection.Design: "Nested" case-control analysis in a prospective cohort study and an updated meta-analysis of previous relevant studies.Setting: General practices in 18...

Aims: To study the etiopathogenic role of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in the atherosclerotic disease, in vitro studies and animal models involving Chlamydia pneumonia and atheromatosis were reviewed, as well as clinical assays that analyzed the association between the pathogen and...

The possibility that infectious agents may trigger a cascade of reactions leading to inflammation, atherogenesis, and vascular thrombotic events has recently been raised. Chlamydia pneumonias is one of those that have received the most investigative attention with respect to coronary artery...

Presents information on a study which investigated whether chronic Chlamydia pneumoniae infection is a risk factor for coronary heart disease in the Helsinki Heart Study in Finland. Information on the pathogen Chlamydia pneumoniae; Description of the design and results of the heart study;...

Discusses the potential role of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in atherosclerosis. Randomized clinical trials of antichlamydial antibiotics in patients with coronary heart disease; Detection of infection; Four classes of antibiotics against infection; Specific factors that may link Chlamydia...